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Cairo - A shadowy anarchist group in Egypt has caught the
attention of the media and authorities since unrest swept the country, but the
number of the masked militants and their influence remain a mystery.

Demonstrators, hooded and masked and dressed in black from
head to toe, appeared last week in Cairo and other provinces, calling
themselves the "Black Bloc" and using the slogan "Chaos against
injustice".

Previously unknown, the group has caused a stir with its
dramatic flash mob appearances at demonstrations and rallies - where its
members appear at marches without prior warning or public announcement.

Presenting themselves as the defenders of protesters opposed
to Islamist President Mohamed Morsi's rule, they reportedly model themselves on
anarchist groups of the same name in Europe and the United States.

In a video posted on YouTube, the militants say they want to
"confront the regime of the fascist tyrants" - a reference to the
Muslim Brotherhood from which Morsi hails.

Photographs showed them celebrating around a police armoured
vehicle in flames in the middle of Tahrir Square this week, making "V for
victory" signs.

The origins and leadership of the group are shrouded in
mystery and the extent of its membership is unknown.

But its presence has still unnerved the authorities.

Terrorist actions

On Thursday, 18 suspected members of the group were
detained, accused of "perpetrating acts of sabotage in the country."

"Inquiries have shown that the Black Bloc is an
organised group which carries out terrorist actions," said the prosecutor
general's spokesperson Hassan Yassine.

The prosecutor urged "citizens to arrest anyone
suspected of membership in this group and hand them over" to the army or
police, said Yassine.

He also decided to appoint a judge to investigate a
complaint lodged by a lawyer who accused the Black Bloc of torching Muslim
Brotherhood offices, and of links to opposition and media figures, Yassine
added.

"The Black Bloc is an organized group. [Its members]
are troublemakers," lawyer Abed al-Wakil, who filed the complaint, told
AFP.

Later on Thursday, the authorities detained a member of the
militant group suspected of planning to carry out Israeli-directed acts of
sabotage.

One person "belonging to the Black Bloc organisation
was arrested inside a building overlooking Tahrir Square carrying Israeli plans
to target petrol companies and vital installations, maps of these places and
instructions on setting fire to some places," the official MENA news
agency reported.

Israel firmly rejected the notion of its involvement in any
such plot.

Elsewhere, another suspected Black Bloc member was arrested
after placing an order with a clothing factory in the city of Mahalla, north of
Cairo, for black masks and outfits for the group, the prosecution said.

Dressed in black

On Wednesday, as protesters demonstrated outside the public
prosecutor's office against the arrest order of Black Bloc members, an AFP
reporter saw plain clothed police detain several young men dressed in black and
force them into a car.

An hour later, police arrested another four people masked
and dressed in black.

Authorities have not provided much detail about the group
whose Facebook page had more than 36 000 "likes", or supporters.

Some doubt the existence of an organised Black Bloc network.

"There is no such thing as the Black Bloc," said
Haitham Nur, 25, who was protesting outside the prosecutor's office on
Wednesday and describes himself as a "political activist."

The Black Bloc has emerged in the wake of protests that
began in Egypt last week with the second anniversary of the revolt of 2011. At
least 56 people have been killed and hundreds injured.

The opposition has called new anti-Morsi protests on Friday,
but the Black Bloc has not indicated whether it will join them.

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